Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 77398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77398 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
“No!” I covered Journey’s eyes just as he backhanded Jackson across his face. His head whooshed back, taking half his body with him. Journey burst into a fit of tears, screaming at the top of her lungs again.
I was about to say something. Come to Jackson’s defense like he had just done for me, but the expression on Aiden’s face after he realized what he’d done, was as if his worst nightmare had just come to life. Rendering me speechless. He instantly reached for his son, but Jackson forcefully shoved his arms away. I didn’t have to say a word, he knew he fucked up.
“Jackson, I didn’t mean to do that! You know I would never hurt you! I would die before I ever hurt you,” he profoundly stated, his eyes filling with nothing but regret and devastation.
“Shhh… it’s okay, Journey, it’s alright,” I soothed the screaming baby in my arms.
My stomach somersaulted, making me weak in the knees. The emotions were running so high you could choke on them. Making it hard to breathe. I waited on pins and needles for someone to say something, anything to make the expression on their faces fade away.
In the blink of an eye, Aiden’s face changed as if he was scanning his son’s gaze, searching for the boy who once loved him more than anything.
I bit back the bile rising in my throat. Briefly blinded by the overwhelming agony you could feel in the air. With tears blurring my vision, I was the first to break, shutting my eyes.
My sanity couldn’t take it anymore.
They were pulling every sentiment from my body, every last emotion I didn’t even know I had out of me. I strained. The walls were caving in on me, one by one, so I leaned against the window for support.
Without thinking, I muttered, “Please stop.” Opening my eyes, I locked stares with Jackson. “You have to stop. Your mom wouldn’t have wanted this. No mother would.”
His eyes glazed over in a way I’d never seen before, triggering something inside of him. It was like his head finally caught up with the feelings he was brutally inflicting for his own peace of mind. He couldn’t process it fast enough. Showing me everything through his eyes.
Blinking, his intense focus shifted back over to his father, who was taking in what I just said as well.
Neither spoke.
Even Journey stopped crying.
Suddenly, Jackson slowly backed away before he turned and left. Leaving open wounds that may never be healed.
I was more confused now than ever, and without a shadow of a doubt I needed to know where Mrs. Pierce went and why she wasn’t coming back.
Dr. Pierce turned to look at me. “Don’t,” he simply stated, like he knew what I was thinking.
In an instant, he followed his son’s footsteps, turned and left too. I stood there for I don’t know how long, lost in the damage they left behind.
“Ma,” Journey coaxed, grabbing onto my face to look at her.
“Journey, baby girl, I’m not your—”
“Ma,” she countered with watery eyes, holding onto my cheeks harder.
I clutched onto her little hands, kissing them and she smiled.
“I don’t know where your ma is, Little Miss.”
“Ma,” she giggled, tearing at my core.
I took a deep breath, trying to get lost in her laugh instead. I sat down in the rocking chair, unable to hold us up any longer. We stayed just like that until she contently fell asleep in my arms.
Careful not to wake her, I gently laid her back in her crib and watched her sleep for a few more minutes. The soft lull in her breathing, the way her lips puckered with each breath, had me contemplating the emotional attachment I had for a baby that wasn’t mine.
The baby who thought I was her mother was killing me inside.
I wiped away yet another tear falling down my face as I turned on her white noise machine. Hoping it would keep her asleep for the rest of the night. Quietly, I grabbed the monitor and walked out of the room, closing the door behind me.
From that point forward, I moved around in a trance like state. Before I realized where I was, my knuckles were knocking on Jackson’s bedroom door with a bag of ice in my hand.
No answer.
“Jackson!”
Again, no answer.
“Oh shit,” I said to myself, opening his door. He was nowhere in sight, but his window was open, and it hadn’t been while I was cleaning up his room earlier that night.
In a slight panic, I peered out the window, looking every which way for him when I suddenly overheard, “It’s okay, Jackson. I’m here even though you don’t want me to be. I’m still here for you.”
Harley?
I gazed up toward her voice and saw them sitting on the roof of the house. Despite the distance between us, I saw her wrap her arm around him, and to both of our surprise, he let her.